GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT: THE INDIAN EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Debate over Growth and Development are quite old in the history of economic thinking. It is argued that development encompasses comprehensive issues like health, education, equality, and liveability while growth is too narrow a concept. This paper analyses the growth and development experience in India using multiple indicators. Development seems to have lagged behind growth in recent times. Disparity seems to have increased in the post-reform period, caused mainly by further slowing down of low-income states. Imbalances seem to have percolated across economic groups also. This leads us to believe that the remarkable growth that has occurred recently has not been egalitarian and hence development has failed to keep pace with it. Important reasons behind this may be imbalances in Infrastructural facilities and Public Investment, as well as differences in governance. Still, developmental level seems to be higher in the high growth regions, indicating the necessity of the latter for the former.